When is twentieth century capitalized

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In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries , England blossomed into an empire. Grammar What Are Modal Verbs? Writing, grammar, and communication tips for your inbox. Write with confidence.

Get real-time suggestions wherever you write. Particular centuries are spelled out and lowercased. During this century usually means "since or " or "within the twentieth century," usually not "within the last hundred years"; a century ago would mean that.

And the numbered centuries always encompass the preceding hundred years: the eighteenth century ran from or to , the twelfth from or to , and so on. The last year of a century ends in But the popular mind has moved everything back a year, in the belief that marked the beginning of the 21st century.

This confusion is unfortunate but seemingly ineradicable. One other point merits our attention. As compound adjectives, the phrases denoting centuries are hyphenated; but they are not hyphenated as nouns. Hence, "The 12th-century records were discovered in the 19th century. Spell out centuries in lowercase letters. Lowercase and spell out through the ninth: the eighth century , the 12th century.

Hyphenate the adjective form: 18th-century poet. Also, in almost all contexts, the 's not seventeen-hundreds ; and mid-ninth century , midth century , mid's.

Use lower case for millennia and centuries: the first millennium, the sixteenth century. To denote simple ten-year spans OUP style prefers, for example, s or s to nineteen-twenties or nineteen-sixties. In referring to centuries, words are preferred to numerals: nineteenth century , twelfth century , twenty-first century. Predictably, these ten style guides diverge on a number of points about how to handle references to centuries, decades, and other time periods.

But rather astonishingly for a set of competing fashion gurus, all ten agree in preferring to lowercase century in phrases such as "twentieth [or 20th ] century"—and I see no reason why they wouldn't also prefer "the present century" all lowercase.

Google ngram shows "twentieth century" - all lower case - is the most common, which is not, of course, the same as saying it is the best or most grammatically correct. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.